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RC VCF Generator Hero Light

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Welcome to RC VCF Generator

RC VCF Generator is a command-line tool that transforms Recurse Center profiles into a comprehensive VCF (vCard) contact file. With a single command, you can download all Recurser profiles and import them directly into your contacts app.

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Why RC VCF Generator?

Staying connected with fellow Recursers is essential, but manually adding hundreds of contacts is time-consuming and error-prone. RC VCF Generator solves this by:
  • Automating contact creation - Generate a complete VCF file with all Recurser contacts in seconds
  • Preserving rich profile data - Includes names, emails, phone numbers, profile photos, social links (GitHub, Twitter, LinkedIn), company info, and batch affiliations
  • Providing real-time progress - Live progress indicators show exactly what’s happening during the fetch process
  • Formatting phone numbers intelligently - Automatically normalizes phone numbers to human-readable formats
  • Embedding profile photos - Downloads and embeds profile pictures as base64-encoded images

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Key Features

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Comprehensive Profile Data

Every vCard includes:
  • Full name with structured first/last name fields
  • Email addresses
  • Normalized phone numbers (US format: (718) 769-2654, International: +44 20 7946 0958)
  • Profile photos embedded as base64
  • Social media links (GitHub, Twitter, LinkedIn, personal websites)
  • Company and role information
  • Recurse Center batch affiliations as categories
  • Pronouns in the notes field
  • Direct link to RC directory profile

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Smart Progress Tracking

The tool provides live feedback with:
  • Animated spinner during processing
  • Batch-by-batch progress updates
  • Individual profile processing status
  • Photo download indicators
  • Summary statistics (total contacts, photos included, file size, total time)

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Built with Modern Rust

RC VCF Generator leverages:
  • reqwest - High-performance HTTP client with blocking API
  • serde - Robust JSON serialization/deserialization
  • chrono - Date and time handling
  • phonenumber - International phone number parsing and formatting
  • base64 - Efficient image encoding

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Example Output

When you run the tool, you’ll see progress like this: 
🔄 RC VCF Generator

✓ API client initialized (1s)
✓ Batch 1: fetched 50 profiles (3s)
⠋ Processing 23/50: Jane Smith (downloading photo...) (15s)
✓ Fetched all 247 profiles in 5 batches (1m 23s)
✓ Wrote 247 contacts to recursers.vcf (1m 25s)

📊 Summary
   ├─ Contacts: 247
   ├─ With photos: 189
   ├─ File size: 12.4 MB
   └─ Time: 1m 25s

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Get Started

Installation

Install the CLI tool using Cargo or build from source

Quickstart

Generate your first VCF file in under 5 minutes

API Reference

Learn about the Recurse Center API integration

Data Types

Understand the vCard 3.0 format and data structures

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Who Is This For?

  • Current Recursers - Build your contact list during your batch
  • RC Alumni - Stay connected with the broader community
  • Hub Staff - Maintain up-to-date contact information
  • Anyone - Who wants to network with the amazing RC community

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What You’ll Need

  • Rust toolchain (1.70 or later)
  • A Recurse Center account
  • A personal access token from the RC API
Ready to get started? Head over to the Installation guide.

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